D-Backs’ offense more than the sum of its parts
At the midway point of the season, the Diamondbacks’ offense has lived an odd existence. The club entered Friday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants hitting .227, the worst batting average in the league. It ranked second-tolast in on-base and sixth from the bottom in slugging.
And yet the Diamondbacks were averaging 4.4 runs per game, the sixthbest mark in the league. Some of the ugly numbers can be explained by how awful their offense was in May, but it still doesn’t explain the disparity between the usual run-scoring components and the actual number of runs they’ve scored.
“Geez,” infielder Daniel Descalso said, when told about the numbers, “I don’t know how we’re doing it then. I can’t explain it.”
Most of the simplest explanations don’t seem to apply. They’re pretty good, but nothing special, with runners in scoring position or in high-leverage situations. On the bases, they’re very good when it comes to taking extra bases but very bad in terms of running into outs. And while they rank high in converting baserunners into runs, they’re bad in certain situational categories, like getting runners home from third with less than two out.
So what’s going on? Some of it could
be timing. Instead of, say, getting a hit every inning, they’re somehow bunching their hits together.
“I do think the sequencing aspect is a thing,” General Manager Mike Hazen said. “There’s no design to it. That’s not our game plan. Like if you score three or four runs early, it’s not like you’re not trying to score more runs. It’s just the way it’s worked for us.”
That ability is reflected somewhat by the FanGraphs’ stat “Clutch,” which calculates how much better a player or team performs in high-leverages situations than in context-neutral ones. By that measure, the Diamondbacks have been the fourth-most clutch team in the majors.
“We talk about linking at-bats and trying to capitalize when we do have guys on, about really bearing down in those moments,” Descalso said. “Not that you’re trying to do things different when there’s nobody on base. Just the importance of having that quality atbat when there are runners on base. We have to have done a good job of that, too, to be where we’re at right now.”
The Diamondbacks also have a healthy walk rate, allowing them to put runners on when they’re not getting hits, and rank high in isolated power, which means that when they are getting hits they tend to go for extra bases.
When it comes to getting those big hits, Hazen believes it’s possible their approach on the bases could help generate them.
“Because we run so much and are so aggressive on the bases, I do think we give the opposition a lot to think about when we’re on the bases, and I do think that could have an impact on pitch execution when we’re on base,” Hazen said. “I think that is something, but I can’t quantify that. Whether it’s (Paul Goldschmidt) or (Jake Lamb) on first – even (Zack) Greinke stole a base yesterday – I just think you can’t fall asleep. And I do think that has some impact on the quality of pitches we may see with guys on base.”
Whether the Diamondbacks can continue to do these things the rest of the way remains to be seen, but it’s also possible they won’t need to rely as much on timely hitting as their lineup returns to health. Manager Torey Lovullo said Friday that outfielders A.J. Pollock and Steven Souza Jr. could be back before the All-Star break.
The Diamondbacks have yet to have Goldschmidt, Pollock, Lamb and Souza together in the same lineup. They’ve had three of them together just 13 times through 82 games.
They’ve also already started to produce in more traditional ways. The Diamondbacks have scored the most runs in the league in June while ranking fifth in average, third in on-base and third in slugging.
“I don’t think we should expect a huge offensive correction necessarily,” Hazen said.
“I just think when we get the whole lineup back together, we have a chance to have a really good offense.”